Introductions / How did you find sailFar.net?

[nowell]

Hi. My name is Hakan, Live in frezzzzzzzzzing Sweden, been inte longdistance sailing for the past 15 years, but never been that far yet...started out with a Hurley. Now I'm looking for a new small offshore cruiser. Just surfin' around and found this x-elent site.
Fair winds...

Welcome! Get a Vega they kick soo much sail! Peter Brohäll sure knew what he was about!

[AdriftAtSea]

Welcome... although here may be a bit colder than there at the moment. :)

Hi. My name is Hakan, Live in frezzzzzzzzzing Sweden, been inte longdistance sailing for the past 15 years, but never been that far yet...started out with a Hurley. Now I'm looking for a new small offshore cruiser. Just surfin' around and found this x-elent site.
Fair winds...

[Jim_ME]

Craig & Kurt: Want to thank you again for the effort you put into getting my account settings worked out, so that I could fully participate. -Jim

[Jim_ME]

Dan, I can only try to imagine what it would be like to lose one’s spouse and partner for future cruising in such a tragic way—and can only hope that I would be as positive about carrying on with those plans. 

Regarding the Centaur, yes, it’s a twin keel (Laurent Giles) design. I also looked at a single fin keel version of the boat, a Pembroke 26, that was for sale in MA. As you say, the twin keels are like having a cradle along if one should need to do some work below the waterline, so provide some extra self sufficiency. It’s also handy if you get stuck aground, since it will sit upright. Another advantage is that Centaur draws only 3 ft (compared to 4'-3" for the Pembroke), although the two keels increase the wetted area. In Down East Maine where the tidal range gets high, there are many bays that are mud flats at low water.

The Westerly aesthetic took me awhile to get used to after the traditional Alberg lines. The chunky cabin trunk gives it that Lunar-Lander look, but does provide a roomy cabin for a boat of that length and vintage. It’s ruggedly built, and at 6800 lbs, seemed about as large or heavy as I wanted to go up to, and still retain the ability to trailer it myself with a typical heavy-duty pickup. The mast also seems to be close to the limit of what one can step without a crane.

[CapnK]

No problem, Jim - Welcome Aboard, and remember - have fun! :)

[Jim_ME]

Joe, I may have seen or even read your weekly paper in Skowhegan when I was there in the mid 80s. I also enjoyed going to Waterville to the Railroad Square Café and (art house) Theater.

With the few boat shows that I’ve been to, the boats become a blur of expensive shiny fiberglass, brightwork, and hardware. I find myself constantly thinking, for the price of this daysailer (which will depreciate steeply for years) I could buy a wonderful older cruiser. I do enjoy the interviews with boat designers (such as Chuck Paine or Joel White) in books like Mate’s Best Boats, which may be similar to what you are talking about. 

Now, one of the things that inspires me most is seeing before-and-after photos of older boats being restored or improved, such as those dramatic ones by CharlieJ of Tehani’s cabin.

On Massachusetts, I suppose that it’s a bit like the Hatfields and McCoys, there is a special rivalry reserved for neighbors. Yet, you don’t even have to go out-of-state now to find this, with the talk of "The Two Maines"—the rural East/North and the more affluent South.

Welcome Owen (from another Newbie). Which model Hurley did you have? I have a Hurley 18. I’ve heard it called the "TransAtlantic 18", which always struck me as two words that don’t belong next to each other.

[velpanore]

Hi there Jim,

I'm assuming you were saying hello to me although I haven't owned a Hurley. My apologies if you meant someone else. My last boat, in Australia, was a Marieholm 26. A bit like my Alberg 30 but smaller; so now I am luxuriating in the extra space of the 30 footer. Which leaves me a bit bemused at the comments of our larger cruising cousins when they commiserate on my cramped quarters.

I am a commited small boat sailor and look at it much the same way as I have come to regard money. You can get along quite happily on very little but it seems that when you start to acquire a taste for the stuff you can never get enough. Hope that makes sense.

To Gaelic Sea in New Bern, or anyone else listening, I am looking for a place on my way north to do some upgrading on my boat. I will be doing the work myself but would like to be near light fabrication shops for stainless and aluminium work and etc. Preferably not nautically based as they seem to add a surchage o boat work in my experience. Do you think New Bern would be ok? I am not talking major jobs though.

My Regards to all.

Owen Zeimer

[s/v Faith]

Owen,

  Welcome aboard!  I remember several comments along the lines of suggesting that Rose and I were going to kill each other after being onboard our 'little boat' for 2 weeks.  I know people think John (Capt. Smollet) is nuts... and Kurt (CaptK) IS nuts...   ;D

  Glad you found this place, I look forward to hearing about your adventures.  I think you will find NC to be a good place for a re-fit.  I lived there for 5 years, and there are a lot of places to haul out and work on your boat.  Swan Point (ICW sm 245 IIRC) has received several positive comments as of late.  There are many others up past Beaufort, NC (Bock Marine being another that has received many positive replies).

  Good luck, maybe you can post some pictures of the Marieholm 26 and your 30'er?

Thanks,

[Jim_ME]

Hi Owen, I was saying hello to you, but (reviewing the posts now) did get you confused with Hakan (Evantica) who wrote that he had owned and cruised in a Hurley. (Perhaps it had something to do with you, in a country that was formerly part of the British Empire [not exactly up-to-date thinking, I know], having owned a folkboat and he, in Sweden, having owned a UK-built boat.)

Welcome Haken. (and apologies to you both).

(I’ve been thinking about the Hurley and small boats, but should probably start another thread.)

-Jim

[Captain Smollett]

To Gaelic Sea in New Bern, or anyone else listening, I am looking for a place on my way north to do some upgrading on my boat. I will be doing the work myself but would like to be near light fabrication shops for stainless and aluminium work and etc. Preferably not nautically based as they seem to add a surchage o boat work in my experience. Do you think New Bern would be ok? I am not talking major jobs though.

My Regards to all.

Owen Zeimer

Hi Owen,

You looking to haul-out, or are this in-water work?

If hauling, Bock Marine that Craig mentioned above is extremely popular around here.  There are yards closer, but most of the guys here head that way.  Be warned, though, that yard handles some mighty big boats, so you'll be very much a small-fry there.  This may not be a big deal, but if you are looking for a yard that really focuses on small boats, Bock may not be to your liking.

That said, they do have just about any type of boat related skill readily available.

If you are doing in-water repairs, New Bern would be a good place to hang your hat while you refit.  There are plenty of machine shops around, as well as a Tech School (so you might be able to negotiate some small "teaching" projects for low-to-no cost).  This is a very small-boat friendly place; I've often wondered if boat ownership, past or present, is a requirement to live here.   ;D

If you don't want to venture this far "up" (we are about 20 miles upriver from the ICW), Morehead City or Beaufort would be good options.  Plenty of machine shops and supplies in either town.  Both have city anchorages available.  Of the two, I'd probably choose Beaufort as my prefered spot to anchor and drive across the bridge to Morehead if the need for something over there arises,

All these towns provide ample machining and supplies, as well as canvas work, engine specialists, etc.  You really cannot go wrong anywhere in this general area.

I'd also say that I don't THINK you'll see the marine "surcharge" here for marine shop work...there's so many places that competition should be enough to avoid that sort of thing.  I don't know this for sure, I've not comparison shopped the various machine shops, but suffice it to say that at least here in New Bern, if you drive 5 miles out of town in almost any direction, you can find a small machine shop that does not specialize in marine work.  I pass several every week on routine errand running.

Hope this helps,

John

[boatyardpirates]

I blindly stumbled across this site while I was searching for my own site.  I am currently wrapping up a complete refit an an Allegra 24 built by Fred Bingham.  We bought and sold a few cleaner uppers and essentially got this boat for free.  We are preparing for an extended voyage to China where we will temporarily leave the boat to climb Mt Everest.  After the climb we have no Idea which direction we will go.
see more at www.boatyardpirates.com if you are curious.  Ali

[Tim]

Welcome to you both, you have a great looking website. A lot of useful info and friendly souls here.

[Oldrig]

Pirates,
Welcome aboard. The Allegra 24 is a fine voyager, and yours looks lovely.
I guess she wouldn't make it to Nepal.
--Joe

[boatyardpirates]

Tristian Jones could probably get her there but I am no TJ.  Cheers Ali

[CharlieJ]

Tristan could probably get any boat anywhere- All he had to do was write about it- even if he didn't ever really DO it ;D ;D

He seems to have been a quite engaging liar ;D ;D But fun reads anyway- we have a good many of his books in our personal library and we've enjoyed them all, truth or no.

[CaptMac]

Hi to all,

Well I have been sailing for about 30 years, sailing all kinds of boats but mostly full keels (I am a sucker for the nautical look) but sold my last boat a few years ago thinking I was getting to old for this stuff anymore. Then I started getting the itch again and just bought a 26 Seafarer from the Sea Scouts (it was a donated boat) so you can imagine what kind of work it needs, so here I go again, hope to have her in the water this summer but my wife just smiles and hopes for next summer.
I have been looking at this website for a few weeks now and love it, down home type of people, and found the site through the Seafarer reseach site.
I hope that I won't be to much of a pest with questions on fixing up my project boat, but you guys seam to be a wealth of informationand great ideals.

Thanks
Jay

[Captain Smollett]

Welcome aboard, Jay.  Have some grog here to help ease into thinking about all those projects.

[CharlieJ]

Thinking you are too old MAKES you too old ;) - It ain't the calendar- it's the thoughts ;D

I'm now 68 and planning a cruise on our 25 footer come summer- open ended.

Ya HAVE to get older, you don't have to get old ;D

Just quit looking in the durned mirror- it lies about the inside.

Oh, and welcome aboard.

[Tim]

Welcome Jay, Yep this is a great site and you have the perfect boat for it.

[As You Wish]

Just signed up today.  Though I have been reading the forum for a very long time. 

I currently live aboard a 1970 Tartan 27.   I moved aboard in July.   At present will not be sailing far.  I have a daily commitment on land of approximately an hour and half about 30 minutes from the Marina.   My soulmate is in a nursing home and I visit every day.  We had talked about this life style in 1986 but did not start till 2004. 

For a while I was plagued by 3 footits and occasional mild bouts of 2 footits.  Right now I have a sever case of layoutits.  My Tartan has a dinette while the later models have the sittee.   My other illness is I like full keels and if thats not bad enough I like shallow drafts.  On top of that I am not into racing.   Even worst my inboard was missing so rather than re power I hung a outboard on the transom.  Is there a section for interventions.  LOL



I am really fortunate a slip mate has taken me under his wing/helm.  We do get out once a week on Wednesdays.  The thought being given enough Wednesdays we will see a lot of different situations.  Heavy, light or no wind.  We sail as far as we can and still get back to the Marina by 5 pm.   

Still have a lot to learn so be ready for lots of questions. 

Kent